Another week has happened - where did it go?
This time last week, my parents had been due to arrive. I can't believe there have been 7 days in between then and now.
The children are due back at school next week, (NEXT WEEK!) including Miss Tween. Lockdown meant she wasn't able to come over during the holidays, so she ended up spending every day at the stables. They were grateful for the help. Of course, she loves being at the stables - what Tween wouldn't?! - so even when lockdown eased, it wasn't fair to drag her away.
We've missed her very much.
The week has been rainy and, having been wishing for the wet stuff, I tried hard not to complain. We rearranged the Girls to try and gve some of the ground a rest. 15 pairs of feet are just too many for the ground to recover quickly. I was scrubbing the drinkers last night, and it felt like only a couple of days since I'd been doing exactly the same thing. I guess it was a week, really.
In fact, the whole week was a bit of a Groundhog Day, with visiting the hospital for blood tests on 3 out of the 5 days. Day 1, they'd closed early. Day 2, when I sat i the chair it turned out that one of the test was meant to be a fasting test, and I hadn't. Day 3, I'd fasted (and they had trouble extracting blood because I'd not drunk enough water in the morning.... because I hadn't wanted to risk needing to use the toilet at the hospital).
I did manage to cut up one of the two GroBlinds I'd bought. In fact, I'd even completed one new blind yesterday, and almost completed the second one for the other side of the french window. I needed some additional suckers, from the second blind. So I had to mark out the second blind and pop out the spares, then stick them in Milton. Today's tafget is to get them installed and the final hem sewn up, so both blinds are finished. I might also try and make a start on divvying up the second blind, which is going to provide individual covers for a smaller pair of french windows, and the 3 panes of the window.
The windows are covered in sucker marks where I've been putting the blind up at every step to make sure I haven't made any errors before moving on to the next step.
DH has had the "we need to do something with the (insert name of something we're growing) today" bug. He's picked loads of tomatoes and has done two lots of passata (2x9x500ml jars), al pressure canned; he also started 2 huge batches of apple wine, following 2 very different recipes. One was from Suzy Atkins fab Drinks book, and the other was from the ever-relable Marguerite Patten from her 500 Home Made Wines book. Looking forward to seeing how those turn out.
DH also picked all the corn on the cob. It's been a disappointing crop. One variety was, at best, OK for chickens. The other was variable. I blanched the cobs (according to size) and froze them. We ended up with 2 packs of 2 cobs which were for me to eat at some point, and all the rest were in bags for the chickens. They can have them in the winter when there really is no grass.
I had a go at making deep pan pizza yesterday, in the style of Pizza Hut. I found a recipe on line, and I'd already bought some (too small) deep pan pizza dishes. It was't bad, but I had list of learnings:
- don't use the fan setting on the oven, use the bread setting
- don't put the dough up the sides of the pan, it will rise naturally
- garlic butter round the edge wored really well- halve the amount of dough, or buy bigger pans.
I used the spare dough - there was a lot of it - to make a cheesy garlic bread . I was too full of dough crusts to face actually eating it, but DH had some and seemed to enjoy it Oh I've just popped into the kitvhen and cut muself a slice of it. Its good, even cold. I used Shirgar butter, which I can only get from Ocado, and it's extra salty. Yummy!I might have to go and have another piece in a minute. Or I might try and restrain myself, and we can have it with mutton chops for dinner tonight. Mmm.
I managed to get a few things up in the loft, and I donated a whole load of bottles and jars. I had a small delivery of fabric with children's designs on. Some of it almost too good for kids, and I might have to make something out of it. I need to get these blinds finished frst so I can reclaim my cutting table.
Speaking of blinds, I guess I should try and get on and do them.
Catch up soon xxx
